Island Foxes Are Back at the Channel Islands on Santa Barbara’s Coast

As the island fox nimbly clambered up a lush island cherry tree in Scorpion Canyon on the southeast end of Santa Cruz Island, the cinnamon-colored canid gobbled up the seasonal fruit.

Twenty feet above the canyon floor, the fox counterbalanced with its bushy tail, and after enjoying its fill of cherries, it quickly thrashed downward to the ground. A few steps further and it dropped some scat adding to what was already a healthy pile of poop, a territorial mark but also revealing a diversified diet delivered by the island biome.

After photographing and writing about island fox experiences and their near extinction over the past 20-plus years, I must admit I never paid close attention to their scat. They resemble miniature power bars — embedded in those Tootsie Roll-shaped droppings are various seeds, fur, tiny bones, and plant matter.